The number of attacks on staff at a trust which runs four hospitals in Greater Manchester has soared, according to a new report.

At Pennine Acute Hospitals trust, 16.8 per cent of workers said they had personally experienced physical violence from patients, their relatives or other members of the public in the past year, according to the 2016 NHS Staff survey.

In total, there were 240 reported assaults in Pennine in 2016. This was a rise from 169 in 2015, with only 9.8pc of staff affected.

The increase at Pennine, which runs Fairfield General, North Manchester General, the Royal Oldham and Rochdale Infirmary , represents a higher rise than the average for hospital trusts across England, at 15pc.

At Weston Area Health, in the South West of England, 22.6pc of staff said they had personally experienced physical violence. At the Walton Centre in Merseyside, it was 20.3pc.

Royal Oldham Hospital (Image: Getty)

The report said there were 9,935 members of staff overall across Pennine Acute in 2016, and 10,176 in 2015.

Union bosses say there can never be an excuse for attacking staff who are doing their job.

At Pennine, 1.9pc of staff reported to the survey they had experienced violence from the public on more than 10 occasions.

This is double the 0.9pc reporting this level of violence in 2015.

Bosses at Pennine Acute said staff safety is taken 'extremely seriously' and reducing violence against employees is a priority.

Number of reported assaults on staff at Peninne Acute Hospitals

240

2016

169

2015

Staff at Pennine were also more likely to report that they had been harassed or abused by members of the public, with 29.8pc saying this had happened in 2016, in comparison to 23.8pc in 2015.

The survey showed that staff who have been harassed or abused at the Royal Bolton Hospital are among the least likely to report it.

It said 60.6pc of staff said they last time they had experienced abuse, neither they or a colleague reported it.

Christina McAnea, head of health at Unison, which represents health workers, said: “There can never be any excuse for attacking a health worker who’s simply trying to do their job and care for people.

North Manchester General Hospital

“Demands on the NHS are growing, with patients waiting longer to be seen, but this shouldn’t mean health workers are put at risk.

“Hospitals must do more to support staff who are assaulted and encourage them to report every incident to the police.”

Across hospital trusts in England, 15pc of staff said they had experienced physical violence from patients, their relatives or other members of the public in 2016, up slightly from 14.6pc in 2015.

More than a quarter of staff across hospitals in England said neither they or a colleague reported the last incidence of violence.

“We take the safety and security of our staff extremely seriously. As a priority over the next 12 months we are looking at what we can do to reduce the amount of violence staff experience at work from patients and the public, particularly front line staff, to ensure they feel safe and supported at work.

"This will be achieved through enhanced staff training in conflict resolution and physical intervention, improved communication and support from other agencies including the police. Staff are actively encouraged to report any violent or abusive incidents and the number of staff doing so has increased over the last year. This is due to the fact that we have nurtured a strong incident reporting culture.

"While physical assaults for 2015/16 have increased, this has been due to an increase in the reporting of incidents caused by medical conditions such as dementia, confusion and delirium, which staff did not always report in the past. Other incidents of physical violence are actually decreasing.

"We work closely with our frontline staff, particularly in our A&E departments and Urgent Care Centre, our security teams and Greater Manchester Police, to look at how we can address and reduce incidents of violence. We are currently in the process of improving the CCTV and lighting at North Manchester General Hospital, which will help to deter and identify the perpetrators of violence.”